Facilitation & Strategic Planning for Higher Education & Universities
Whether you’re a provost steering a university through change, a dean shaping the future of your college, or a program director building something new, the challenge is often similar: how do you bring people together so they leave genuinely engaged, not just informed? We design strategies and events that make that happen and steer your institution towards the change you seek.
you might be here because:
- You’re planning a summit, convening, or all-hands and don’t want it to be another room of passive presentations
- The people you bring together are craving genuine belonging and engagement, not just more programming
- You’re preparing to develop your next strategic plan, and in the past, people haven’t felt real ownership over it
- A major transition (enrollment, AI, leadership) is underway and you need a process people genuinely feel excited about
There’s a different way to bring a campus together
Most gatherings and plans in higher ed are built around delivery — someone presents, everyone else receives. We build around participation instead, whether the goal is a single powerful event or a multi-year strategy.
- People as contributors. The faculty, staff, students, and stakeholders in the room help shape what happens so they leave invested, not just informed.
- Designed for what’s real. Hard conversations, deep disagreement, uncertainty about AI or the future– we design experiences that can hold all of it, rather than talk around it.
The result isn’t just a better event or a stronger plan. It’s people who understand where things are going, believe in it, and are ready to carry it forward.
Trusted by universities around the world
Higher education work in action
case studies
Penn State Outreach
Transforming University Outreach Efforts through a Collaborative Strategic Planning Process
Tell Me How
Penn State Outreach wanted its one-day Imagination Summit to spark real collaboration across a community that usually works in silos. We designed an interactive process then kept the energy alive with a year of virtual follow-on sessions feeding the organization’s strategic plan.
The result: 200+ professionals generated 30 concrete collaborative initiatives (several launched immediately), and the momentum flowed straight into a co-created strategic plan — moving Outreach, in its VP’s words, “from silos to synergy.”
Sullivan Foundation
A Decade Powering Social Innovation Programming Across 70+ Universities
Tell Me How
The Sullivan Foundation funds social-impact learning for young changemakers at 70+ universities across the American Southeast. The challenge is that a network that large only creates impact if the programming behind it is meaningfully designed, coordinated, and constantly renewed. For 10+ years, we ran that engine: Ignite Retreats, fellowships, field trips, a virtual Masterclass series, faculty development, coaching cohorts, and a rebrand, all while advising the president and board on the foundation’s future.
The result: 5,000+ students trained, 250+ faculty developed, a $17M endowment re-aligned toward student success, and a program its president says “would not be at its current level” without us.
Teach for America Graduate Fellows Program
Building a Changemaker Fellowship That Kept Young Talent in Rural Mississippi
Tell Me How
The Teach for America Graduate Fellows Program set out to keep TFA alumni in rural Mississippi by helping them launch community ventures where they’d taught. In the program’s first years, we designed and facilitated the whole fellowship experience, including designing a year-long curriculum, multiple 3-day immersion retreats, monthly virtual cohorts, and a nationwide mentor network, all while capturing the impact metrics that fueled its fundraising.
The result: a fellowship that retained young talent in Mississippi and helped fellows raise significant funding for social-entrepreneurship and economic-development projects across the state.
Stop hosting things people sit through.
Design experiences they co-create.
